T-money app error causes payment inconveniences for buses and taxis nationwide

[Anchor]

Today (Oct. 27th), a malfunction occurred in the T-money system.

Payment systems at bus terminals and some taxis nationwide went down, causing significant inconvenience for passengers.

Reporter Son Seo-young has the details.

[Report]

People are lined up in front of buses.

One by one, their ticket payment records are checked, and some passengers paid cash on the spot to buy tickets, before boarding the bus.

This was due to a malfunction in the T-money system that operates the ticketing system at bus terminals.

The error occurred around 1 PM today.

Payment and ticketing services were halted at over 140 intercity and express bus terminals nationwide, leading to significant congestion.

[Kim Ik-sang/Bus Passenger: "I had already made a reservation and paid, but the T-money system was down, so I couldn't confirm my seat and had to pay cash to board. Nowadays, everyone uses payment apps or cards."]

Some taxis using the T-money app also experienced payment errors.

There were even taxis that had to completely stopped operation due to issues with the meter linked to the payment system.

[Hong Jong-gwon/Taxi Driver: "Everything shows a communication failure, saying payments can't be processed. Since then, I couldn't work, and all the taxis have just stopped. I couldn't pick up any passengers because the fare wasn't showing on the meter."]

The system was fully restored after about two hours.

However, it was a busy weekend with many people traveling, which increased the inconvenience for passengers.

T-money stated that the error occurred due to a system failure at the Bupyeong center and promised to do their best to prepare compensation measures.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to discuss the exact cause of the incident and measures to prevent recurrence.

T-money errors also occurred in 2021 and 2022, causing delays in ticket issuance and inconveniencing passengers.

This is KBS News, Son Seo-young.